The Beast and the Fox
by Music.And.Writing.Is.Life
Summary: What if, when Charles and Raven go to the CIA, there is already a mutant working there? Snow, a feral mutant with a past as bad as Erik's, will join them on their quest to save man kind. And maybe find love as well. Hank McCoy/Beast love story. Some chapters may be considered to be rated M, I will post a warning before each one.
1. Chapter 1

Leaning back in my chair, I watched as the mutant in front of me finished his presentation. "The advent of the nuclear age," he told us, "may have accelerated the mutation process. Individuals with extraordinary abilities may already be among us." Smirking slightly, I met his eyes and gave him a small wink.

A smile lit his face as I felt something pushing into my mind. My smile faded slightly but didn't disappear completely. _I hold no secrets from you, mind reader,_ I thought to him, _but believe me when I say that some things are best left unseen._ The force all but disappeared as he retreated from my memories with a wince.

As I returned my attention to what was going on around me, Director McCone began speaking, looking directly at Moira MacTaggert, who was sitting next to me. "MacTaggert, you really think that some crackpot scientist is gonna make me believe in sparkly dames and vanishing men?" he asked with a slightly amused tone in his voice, "you just bought yourself a one-way ticket back to the typing pool. This meeting is over."

Moira began to stand, a dejected look on her face. My eyes met those of the mind reader, who chose then to speak again. "Uh, please sit down, Agent MacTaggert," he ordered more than asked, glancing to his companion, who was also a mutant. "I didn't really think that you'd believe me," he continued, "given that all you could think about during my presentation was what sort of pie they were serving in the commissary. It's apple pecan."

"I haven't been completely honest with you, love. I'm sorry," he said to Moira before turning to the others, "you see, one of the many spectacular things my _mutation_ allows me to do is that I can read your mind."

Agent Stryker shook his head and looked to Director McCone. "I've seen this before in a magic show," he scoffed, "are you going to ask us to think of a number between one and ten now?" The mind reader chuckled lightly, not at all upset.

"No, Agent Stryker," he said, "though I could ask you about your son William, who you were thinking about, which is very nice. But I think I'd rather ask you about the Jupiter missiles America is currently placing in Turkey." For a moment, all was silent as everyone looked at him in shock.

Then, chaos broke out as Director McCone began accusing him of being a spy. Moira instantly began defending herself. As the noise level grew, the ears that were tucked safely beneath my hat twitched in irritation. The volume soon became painful and I couldn't stop the half painted, half annoyed hiss that escaped me.

At the same time, the mind readers companion stood quickly. In less than a second, during which her body had been covered in dark blue spikes, a copy of Stryker was standing in her place. Catching sight of her, everyone fell silent and stared at her.

"How's that for a magic trick?" I asked in asnort, speaking for the first time since I had entered the conference room. A man in the back of the room, whose name I didn't know, spoke up first.

"Best I've ever seen."

The director spoke next. "I want these two out of here," he ordered, "and locked down until I can figure out what to do." The shape-shifter looked to the mind reader with worry in her now yellow eyes.

"I think you mean these three," I commented, standing as their attention was drawn to me. I could clearly see the question in most of their eyes. "I mean, if you're locking up mutants, why should you leave one in the middle of everything?" With that said, I pulled my hat off, revealing my white, fox-like ears.

Not finished, I pulled my jacket off and unravel my matching tail from where it was curled behind my back. Grinning at their shocked faces, I revealed animal-like fangs that went just past my bottom lip. Holding up a hand, I also showed them the claws that had appeared in the place of each fingernail.

"You're one of them?"

Looking at Moira, who was the one that had spoken, I nodded. "Thats not all, either," I told her with an apologetic smile, "I also have heightened senses and am stronger and faster than any known human."

"Get them all out of here," the Director ordered once more, this time clearly including me in his sentence. The man from the back of the room, whom I had chosen to call Agent Black, spoke once more.

"My facilities off sight," he recommended, "I'll take them."

"I'm Charles Xavier, by the way," the mind reader told me as the four of us walked through the parking garage. By the four of us I meant me, Charles, the shape-shifter, and Agent Black. Glancing over at him, I smiled slightly.

"You can call me Snow," I replied. He gave me a questioning look and a second later I felt him probing my brain once more. This time I said nothing, letting him look through my memories. A pained look crossed his face as he pulled away. "I did warn you," I shrugged, no longer haunted by the memories of my past.

"How are you no longer affected by that?" Charles asked, his eyes clouded over with both concern and confusion. I chuckled slightly and gave him a fanged smile.

"Because, when the monsters of your past are dead, there is no reason to fear them," I answered, "especially if they die by your own hand." He paled slightly as he swallowed hard and nodded before falling silent.

A few moments of silence passed before the shape-shifter spoke. "I'm Raven Darkholme," she said enthusiastically, holding her hand out to me. Raising an eyebrow slightly, I shook it as best I could while we were both moving.

Before I could respond, Agent Black interrupted as though he hadn't heard anything we had said. "I've always known that there were people like you out there," he informed us, "I've been the laughingstock of this agency for years, but i knew it. You're going to love my facility."

"Thats going to have to wait," Charles cut him off, "Agent MacTaggert had a lead on Sebastian Shaw, and if we don't move now, apparently, we're going to lose him." As he spoke, Moira herself pulled up in front of us in her car.

"What?"

"Not only can he read minds," Raven put in as she opened the back door to the car and held it for me, "he can communicate with them as well." She slid in after me as Charles smiled at Moira.

"Moira and I have just had a lovely conversation."

"That is incredible!" Agent Black exclaimed as Charles chuckled, "but I cannot take you anywhere else without permission from upstairs." Rolling my eyes, I sent a mental message to Charles, telling him what to do.

"Would you like to see one more magic trick?"

"Sure."

Charles placed his fingers to his temples and met the mans eyes. "Get in the car," he ordered.

"Good idea," Agent Black agreed immediately, sliding in next to Raven.

.* * * * *

Quicker than possible if it wasn't for two CIA agents, we were on a large Coast Guard ship heading towards Shaw's location. When the yacht came into sight, the Coast Guard deployed three small motor boats.

"I've lost Shaw," Charles gaspeed, from where he was standing next to me at the railing of the ship, "I've lost Shaw. There's something blocking me. This has never happened to me before, I think there is someone like me on that ship."

"Like you?"

"I'm sorry, a telepath," he told Moira, "this is incredible, I could actually feel her inside my mind. I'm very sorry, but I don't think that I will be much help to you tonight, you're one your own."

At that moment, as the motor boats were nearing the yacht, a man stepped up to the railing. He held his hands in front of him and began moving them in circles. A moment later, a whirlwind appeared over each hand, both of them growing rapidly as they moved away from their creator.

"Oh, my God."

"Jesus."

With a flick of his hands, the air bender sent the motor boats flying. In a panic, Agent Black began ushering everyone off the deck. Ignoring him, I gripped tightly onto the rail, wanting to watch what would happen. As I watched, my heightened eyesight caught sight of something rising from the water.

I had just recognized it as the anchor of the yacht when Charles and the others join me once more. "Right there," Charles said as he walked up, his hand pointing out into something in the water. My eyes focused on a lone floating figure as the anchor tore through the top of the yacht. We all leaned forward as the chain wrapped around the length of it and began contracting.

"Metal bender," I murmured to myself as the figure in the water stared down through the water at what I recognized as a submarine. The metal bender held his hand out and connected himself to the sub. As it started moving, he followed it, being pulled deeper and deeper.

"He's going to kill himself."

"Let go!" Charles yelled at the same time that I came to my conclusion, his mind coming to the same one, "you have to let it go!" He turned to Agent Black, "you have to help him. You gotta put someone in the water to help him."

Charles continued to yell at the man to let the sub go as the people on deck did nothing. Growling in frustration, I followed Charles as he moved to the other side of the ship, stripping his jacket off as he did do. I grabbed onto him before he could jump in.

"Let me," I ordered, pulling my jacket and hat off, "I'm part arctic fox, we were bred to survive cold temperatures, you, however, were not." Not waiting for him to respond, I kicked my shoes and socks of before leaping over the rail and into the water.

The cold shocked my system for less than a second before it instantly adapted. opening my eyes, I saw the metal bender right in front of me. Kicking towards him, I wrapped my arms around his waist, silently begging Charles to speak to him.

It must have worked, for after a few seconds of struggling, the man released the sub and let me pull him to the surface. As we surfaced, he gasped for air while pushing me away from him.

"Get off me! Get off me!"

Following his wishes, I released him. "Calm down, just breathe," I ordered before yelling our location to the people on the Coast Guard ship.

"Who are you?" the man asked, struggling slightly to stay afloat.

"My name is Snow," I replied, "I'm here with a man by the name of Charles Xavier and two women, Moira MacTaggert and Raven Darkholme."

"Someone was in my head!" he yelled, still gasping for breath, "how did he do that?"

"You have your tricks, we have ours," I replied, my ears flicking slightly to rid themselves of water. His eyes went to them instantly, his eyes widening. then his eyes moved behind me, to where I knew that my tail was floating. "We are like you," I told him.

"I thought I was alone," he panted.

"You're not alone," I assured him, smiling slightly, "no one is ever alone." At that moment, the Coast Guard ship pulled up alongside us, one of the crewmembers throwing down a rope. Swimming forward, I grabbed it and swam back to the metal bender. "What's your name?" I asked as I wrapped it around him.

"Erik Lehnsherr," he replied quietly, watching my every move. Tying the end tightly, I looked up and him and winked.

"Well, Erik Lensherr," I began, "as much as I enjoy swimming, you look as though your lips are going to fall off, wetsuit or not...so what do you say to getting out of here?"

He nodded and looked at me curiously as I tugged the rope, telling the crew to pull it up. Winking again, I swam easily to the side of the boat and found a hand hold. Using just my upper body, I scaled the side and crawled over the rail. Landing on my feet, I quickly shook, soaking those around me. Laughing at the look on Charles's face, I refused the towel offered to me, thanking the fact that I was a Mutant.


	2. Chapter 2

When the car pulled up to Agent Black's facility, the first thing that popped into my mind was prison. It looked nothing like a prison, mind you, but I could see that it was. Once we were inside, they wouldn't willingly let us leave unless something big happened. Shaking my head, I joined everyone as they stood before the building.

"Welcome to my facility," Agent Black stated as we began walking towards the entrance, "my mission has been to investigate the application of paranormal powers in military defence."

"Or offence," Erik added, causing Charles, who was standing on the other side of him, and I to glance over at him.

"This guy Shaw, Schmidt, whatever you want to call him, he's working with the Russians," Agent Black continued, "we might need your help to stop him."

"Might?" I snorted, knowing for a fact that they couldn't stop him without our help. My un-ladylike noise was ignored as Charles began speaking.

"Marvelous," he murmured to himself before raising his voice, "so we are to be the CIA's new mutant division, yes?" Agent Black looked over at him.

"Something like that."

Huffing slightly, I tugged my hat off and shoved it in my pocket before reaching up an rubbing at my slightly sore ears. "I hate that hat," I informed everyone, my scowl growing at the sound of Charles' chuckle. Baring my teeth at him, I hissed as my tail slipped from its hiding place. "Don't laugh at me, Charles Xavier," I warned him playfully, "I've taken down men three times your size."

As we entered the facility, I couldn't help but wince at the noise we made as we walked. Pausing for a second, I slipped my shoes off along with my socks. Now holding them in my hand, I hurried after the others, my steps now silent. With the exception of Charles, the group gave me strange looks.

I gave them all a shrug. "I'm used to being silent," I explained, "shoes make way too much noise." Accepting this explanation, Agent Black turned to the door that we had stopped in front of. Pulling it open, he led us to stand before a model of a jet that was hanging from the ceiling. Out of all of us, Charles seemed to be the most interested of us all.

Not to long after we had arrived, I heard footsteps approaching. Smelling the air, I caught wind of an unfamiliar scent mixed with a familiar one. Our new arrival was a mutant.

"It's, uh, supersonic," the person said from behind us,"the most advanced plane ever built. You should see it in real life. It's incredible." As he spoke, the man, or boy rather, moved to stand in front of us. He looked to be around seventeen and wore large framed glasses. His dark brown hair was longer than Erik's but shorter than how Charles wore his.

"Hank,"Agent black began, "these are the special new recruits I was telling you about. This is Hank McCoy, one of our most talented young researchers." Charles stepped forward immediately, already knowing that he was mutant.

"How wonderful," he said as he took Hank's hand, "another mutant already here." I winced when I saw the look of Hank's face. "Why didn't you say?" Charles asked Agent Black, not noticing the look.

"Say what?"

"Because you didn't know," Charles said slowly as he realized what he had just done, "I am so, so terribly sorry." Hank shook his head as though to say that it was nothing as Agent Black slowly approached him.

"Hank?" Agent Black asked, the tone in his voice and the scent in the air telling that he was surprised and slightly hurt. Studying Hank's face as he replied, I could see that he was nervous, but beneath that nervousness, there was something else. My animal instincts told me that his mutation was somewhat like mine, something to do with an animal.

"So, your mutation is what?" Raven asked as she stepped forward, breaking my gaze away from Hank and to her, "you're super smart?" Following behind her, I tilted my head to the side as I waited for his answer.

"I'll say," Charles said before he could answer, "Hank here graduated Harvard at the age of fifteen."

"I wish that was all it was," Hank replied,his eyes remaining on Raven. I frowned as the urge to growl bubbled through my chest. Shaking it away, I returned my attention to what was going on before me.

"You're among friends, Hank," Charles assured him, "you can show off." As he spoke he nodded to Hank's feet. I knew instantly that this was where it mutation was centered. When Hank continued to hesitate, I took that moment to speak up.

"Come on Hank," I encouraged, drawing his eyes to me, "it's not like any of us have room to judge. I mean, look at me." Flicking my ears, I wrapped my tail around my waist to prove my point. His eyes widened slightly before he nodded and began kicking his shoes off.

All of us, with the exception of Erik, who had stayed behind, crowded closer to see what he was doing. As his socks came off, he revealed his feet to us. Instantly, a smile came to my face as I saw that they looked more like hands.

"Splendid," Charles chuckled as he looked down at Hank's mutation. Hank look up and his eyes went instantly to Raven. Another growl bubbled in my throat, this one harder to contain. Frowning, I stepped back a few paces, contemplating what my inner animal, who I called Vixen, was trying to tell me.

Without my consent, my eyes flickered back to Hank. Everyone around him had taken a few steps back as well. As I watched, he flipped upside down and grabbed onto the very plain that we had been looking at before with his feet. Vixen purred in approval at what she considered a display of power.

Raven walked up so she was standing right in front of Hank. "You're amazing," she told him. For the third time, I had to force back a growl.

"Would you just shut up!?" I snarled, not realizing that I had spoken aloud until all eyes turned to me. My ears flattened under the looks as I gave them a small smile. "Sorry," I apologized, "don't mind me, just taking to my inner demon, if you will."

"Does she actually talk to you?" Charles asked, tilting his head slightly, "your inner animal I mean, you call her Vixen, yes?" I nodded to his second question before answering.

"It's not so much that she talks to me, as she doesn't use actual words," I began to explain, "but she lets me know that she's there in some way or another." To my surprise, it was Erik that spoke next.

"So you are part animal?" he asked, his eyes meeting mine. I nodded before giving him a fanged grin.

"In every way," I teased, wiggling my eyebrows slightly, "want a demonstration?" He smiled for the first time while he was with us and chuckled lightly. He wasn't the one to reply, however. Agent Black did.

"Would you?" he asked curiously, sounding excited, "demonstrate your animal side I mean."

"Sure," I shrugged, "though it would be easier to show you if I had someone to spar with, preferably someone that won't break easily." Agent Black smiled before gesturing for all of us to follow him. We did so obediently, Erik hanging back slightly.

"When we train our agents, we don't necessarily want them going out and killing actual people so we have created multiple lifelike robots," the agent told us as we walked through multiple hallways that were nearly identical. A rush of thrill ran through me at the thought of actually getting to kill something.

Charles shot me a look as that thought ran through my mind. I gave him a shrug, not concerned with what he thought of me. Moments later, we stopped in front of two large, wooden doors. Agent Black pulled them open to reveal a large empty room. Telling us to wait here, he disappeared into a side room. Moments later, an invisible door slid open and multiple robots stepped out.

They were humanoid in shape, ranging in height, but lacked skin and muscle. They were covered in a white, gel-like substance that also made up the shape of the face. As they stood in rows, I counted them quickly. Altogether there were fourteen robots facing me. After a few seconds, Agent Black reappeared with a remote in his hand.

"These robots have several settings," he began to explain, "you can set the difficulty level as well as what fighting style you want them to use."

Feeling is questioning look, I met his eyes. "Turn it all the way up," I ordered, "and make the fighting style a surprise." He did so with a slight frown on his face and the robots moved accordingly. "I can kill these things right?" I asked as I tossed my jacket to the side and began rolling my sleeves up, "because once I start I might not be able to control myself enough to leave them intact."

"Yes, you can destroy them," Agent Black replied, sounding skeptical that I would be able to do damage to one of them, let alone destroy them all. Ignoring the tone in his voice, I smirked and pulled Vixen to the forefront of my mind. I felt my fangs elongate even more, my claws doing to same.

From the gasped shocks that came from behind me, I knew that my normally black hair was turning white. I also knew that my blue eyes had turned bright yellow. A low snarl bubbled in my throat as my mind melded with Vixen's, my thoughts turning into those of an animals.

Instantly, my mind saw the robots before me as a threat, my body falling easily into a crouch. Vaguely, I heard someone mutter something and a quiet beep as Agent Black turned the robots on. One of them broke off from the others, heading towards me. Snarling, I used my back legs to propel myself onto it.

Without any thought to the people standing behind me, I latched my teeth into its throat, I jerked my head backwards. The head clattered to the floor and I flipped away from the body, which hit the floor with a crash. Unlike if they were human, the other robots didn't hesitate to take it's place.

The first one came at me and swung at my head, a fairly predictable move. Ducking under it, I grabbed one of it's legs and tugged. Before it had hit the ground, I was doing a cartwheel into it. My heels crushed its chest against the floor with the force of getting hit by a car, effectively 'killing' it. The rest of them, their numbers now down to twelve, made a circle around me.

Straightening out of my crouch, I let my eyes run across each of the robots, searching for any weakness. The most prominent one I could find was the fact that their necks had little to no protection. Just as I realized this, three of the robots started towards me, two in front and one from behind. Ducking out of the way of the punch that was coming my way, I smirked when I heard the robot's fist connect with one of its comrades.

While I was gloating, however, one of the robots chose that moment to kick at me. It's foot grazed the side of my cheek. I froze in anger and when I looked back, I could feel Vixen taking over completely. My mind went blank as I surrendered control, knowing that she wouldn't harm the others. When I was able to control my body again, the robots were scattered around me, or what remained of them that is.

Looking up through the curtain of my once again black hair, I studied everyone's expressions. Raven, Moira, and Agent Black were looking at me with something akin to fear, which I had expected. Charles and Erik were looking at me with awe and Erik had a small smile on his face. My eyes traveled slowly to the last person of our group. Hank was staring at me with a look I couldn't identify.

Flipping my hair back, I gave everyone a small smile. Charles grinned and walked over to me. "That was brilliant, Snow," he complemented, placing a hand on my shoulder, "I'd ask where you learned that but I'm slightly afraid of the answer." Chuckling, I gave him a fanged grin.

"Trust me when I say that you wouldn't want to know the answer."

Our joking moment was gone instantly when Raven spoke up. "Why not?" she asked rather harshly, her eyes turning yellow, "it is not as though you have gone through any more pain than the rest of us." My muscles froze, Vixen snarling her anger in my mind. This time, I let it pass my lips.

Turning my eyes to her, I showed my teeth in a fierce snarl. "You know absolutely nothing about me, child," I told her in a cold voice, "I have been on this earth for longer than anyone in this room, I have seen things that would make all of you shudder in fear, the things I have done in order to survive would give you nightmares for the rest of your lives. Do not tell me that I have not gone through pain." With that said, I spun around and walked out of the room.


End file.
